Month: March 2017

Sorry if this is the wrong sub for this kind of thing. My wife and I found a property that we really liked and met all of our house requirements, but we don’t really have the income to support two mortgages. We put in a contingent offer based on the sale of our current townhouse and the seller accepted with KO clause. We’re ~6 weeks in and have had a bunch of showings on our house, but no bites. The seller has had no interest in their property other than when we looked at it. I just got a call from my agent saying that the seller is complaining about the pictures on our listing and wants to come look at our property. Their listing is still marked active, so I don’t think our contingent offer is deterring any of their prospective buyers. Is this weird behavior on the sellers part? I don’t see a reason for them to be in my house because I know they aren’t buying it. The contingent contract runs out at the end of April and I’m considering just letting it go.

I may be a first-time homebuyer and need some advice on what to do next.This started when my mother passed away a few months ago. I was living rent-free in a property they owned. Previously, my step dad told me that the property was mine, so I didn’t put any thought into it until this week when he said he needed to sell it to pay off debt they both accumulated.The home is tax assessed at 25k but as-is the house needs thousands of dollars in repairs. We have two current projects they started but never finished.1. Bathroom (some walls down to studs)2. Bedroom (trim needs reinstalled, minor laminate flooring will need done)One major problem The addition to the house needs demolished. I’m currently working with a construction company on an estimate.He said he would do 24k on the house, but looking in my area (small town population 500) two houses are on the market with similar bedrooms and area. one is selling for 26k the other 18k. So I don’t know if this house is priced right. I have a feeling it’s overpriced.What would be a good next step? Should I hire an appraisal before going to the bank for money? I’m not worried about the bank approving me, but I would like to apply for FHA mortgage to reduce my downpayment since I’m strained now to have the upfront cost needed. (5k in savings)

Purchasing a fixer upper, or interested in it. Currently the home has a very bad roof problem and the upstairs has been getting soaked directly by rain and snow, leading to extensive mold in the structure.My question, is cleaning up the mold going to be a simple operation that I can undertake? It says online just bleach + water can kill mold. So it sounds like just get the roof fixed and then kill the mold and then it’s good to go?Does anyone have experience in dealing with a home that has had extensive water damage and possible mold spread throughout?

Can someone explain to me what this means? I’m a first time home buyer and was asked to provide a written statement of employment history. I’d ask my lender, but unfortunately her less than spectacular assistant is holding down the fort while she’s on vacation.Is there template language I should use or should I ask my lawyer to draft something based on my info? I have more than 2 years of employment in my field, so it shouldn’t be a problem. My employer also verified that my new job was secure.I did have one job for 11 months shoehorned inside that history which I know isn’t ideal (I only left because I had a better offer at my current job with a salary increase) but we were told that wouldn’t be a problem during pre-approval. It was in the exact same field though.

Hey Guys,I’m a new LO, and in an effort to show some value to realtors I have been going to open houses for the past few weekends. I’ll bring by snacks/beverages and engage with potential clients passing through if the hosting agent is occupied.What I noticed really quickly is this– I ask boring questions that don’t facilitate great conversation. E.g. What brought you in today? What do you like about the house? Are you actively searching, or more just gauging the market?I thought you guys might have some tips/tricks/questions that are better at leading to more in depth conversation and ultimately build relationships.Help!

Been on the hunt for a house. Stumbled across one that meets all of my criteria and then some. The only downside is that it’s beside a business – a shop that does vinyl wraps for vehicles. It’s only open Mon to Fri 9-5 and closed weekends.Our realtor strongly advised against it (to the point where he said he doesn’t even recommend looking at the property). He said that while right now the current business is quiet it may sell and become a regular repair shop down the future – AKA very loud tools through the day.So I’ve come to ask you – would you buy a house beside a business?

Ok everyone, this an update to a previous post on my account. Here is a copy of my previous post, with new info at the bottom -“Hello everyone, I’m back with a question regarding real-estate. So for those of you California agents, brokers, lawyers, this one’s for you. My spouse and I owned a condo for about a year. Within that year we fixed up various parts of the condo, bought new appliances. We then made the decision to sell the condo, to buy a house we had our eye on. The condo went on the market, we had several offers within days, and finally settled on someone who essentially had the income, and everything checked out. After negotiations, the inspections took place. The only thing that came back was that the wall heaters, the knobs, didn’t seem to all be working properly. This condo had the original wall heaters from the 70’s when the place was built. We NEVER offered to replace them, they never asked. They did ask that we fix the knobs so that the heaters work. Ok, that’s fine. We called places, we asked around. It was a challenge, as these types of heaters were simply not made anymore. So, with the advice of our handyman, the knobs were repaired the best way we knew how. And they worked for us. ** Side note, we never used the wall heaters, since they were old, AND so far away from anywhere in the house we would sit. So we always used our OWN space heaters. But then again, it’s California, how often do we really need to use them? 🙂 Well, the final walk through came, and went. No one said anything. All disclosures were signed. We had our final walk through on our new house. Everything seemed great. Just this week we received a letter in the mail. It’s from the buyers of our condo, their lawyer. The heaters, a few of the knobs stopped working, and a repair man came to take a look at them, and said they are so old, the entire heater would just need to be replaced. Now, keep in mind, we sold this place 9 months ago! So they are now demanding we refund them for the cost of the heaters, which is coming in at nearly 2k. So my question to you all is this, is there some strange loop hole I don’t know about in the state of CA, where someone almost a year later can come back and demand payment for something? I mean, who knows how she treated the heaters after we sold the place to her. She could have broken it, and now just wants the money back. I’m asking for advice. Any lawyers, brokers, agents out there have any advice?”Update – We sent a response letter to the lawyer letting him know that we are more than willing to sit down to discuss with the current owner in-person, and privately. I then had a phone conversation with the lawyer, and one of the first things out of his mouth, was that this was over a “couple hundred dollars, we should just pay this to get it over with” I told him, excuse me? A couple hundred dollars? Did you read your own letter?! (all letters have his letter head) I told him it’s over a couple THOUSAND dollars. He didn’t say anything.I then asked him if he had the chance to speak to his client regarding what she told the warranty company? He told me I should tell him. So I explained that the warranty company said they advised the home owner that the heaters were old, and other various aspects of the heaters. The warranty company told me, “the owner stated, she was aware of their condition before close of escrow”I also told the lawyer, the number of heaters keeps changing in the demand letter. There was only 2 heaters listed in the repair request before close of escrow, which we repaired, and the VPC was signed by the buyer stating repairs were completed to their liking.The original demand letter from lawyer stated we owed her money for 3 heaters, I explained there were only 2 in the repair request, where is she getting 3? AND that when I called the warranty company, they stated she only called in a claim for coverage on 1 heater, not 2, not 3.So, I explained that without prejudice, we MIGHT be wiling to pay for 1, NOT 2, NOT 3. His final thoughts…..”well, I’m sure if you were to swing my client say, $800 – $900 bucks she would be a happy camper” I said, no, that is the most we MIGHT be willing to pay is for 1.And the final straw that broke the camels back, when I went to go drop off the letter at the lawyers office, it’s only a few blocks from where I work, guess who i SAW?! The owner that bought our condo and is trying to come after us! SHE WORKS THERE! I was completely shocked!And there it was, she’s a paralegal at the law firm. So in other words, she has access to the letter head, and it now makes sense WHY the lawyer didn’t even know what was in his own letter. Our guess is, she wrote the letter herself using the lawyers letter-head.Now, we receive another letter, stating that she is willing to close out this matter for the reimbursement of 2 heaters. And she wants the money in 2 weeks.So honestly, what should we do? I spoke to the warranty company, and even they don’t agree with her. The rep explained that once you purchase a home, the home warranty gets more and more difficult to file claim on, since the house has been lived in. And if she filed 6 months after closing, it’s her word against ours that the heaters broke and it’s OUR fault some how, which is impossible! Um, we don’t live there anymore, we also found out she has tenants living with her, so any one of them could have tampered with it. Once again, the amounts keep changing on the demand letter, this whole thing just seems like a shake-down?Lawyers – real estate agents, advice?

Yet another interesting headline in the world of health and well-being. A Tiny Fish With Fearsome Fangs Uses An Opioid-Like Venom To Escape Enemies
New research shows the 2-inch fangblenny bites bigger fish and releases an opioid-based venom. The larger fish becomes disoriented, and the little guy gets away.

Yet another interesting headline in the world of health and well-being. Forcing People At Vending Machines To Wait Nudges Them To Buy Healthier Snacks
Buy an unhealthy snack and these vending machines take away 25 seconds of your life you’ll never get back. Healthy fare drops instantly. Research suggests this “time tax” helps us make better choices.

Looking at a home that has an HOA (ugh). $70/month, includes trash pickup ($18/month if you were to get it outside of the HOA community) and grass watering / cutting of a small ~1 acre park in the middle of the community.Given 72 houses in the community, this just seems high – $3600/month for someone to come and cut grass?Denver suburbs, so in theory, the grass cutting would only be 7-8 months out of the year anyways.Am I being unreasonable in questioning this rather high expense?